Date Approved

3-5-2014

Date Posted

11-17-2014

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department or School

Psychology

Committee Member

Silvia von Kluge, PhD, Chair

Committee Member

Tom Figurski, PhD

Committee Member

Tanweer Shapla, PhD

Abstract

Just-world theory research investigates how an individual's world-view influences his/her behavior when confronted with injustice. The purpose of the present study was to examine the utility of multiple continual physiological measurements as predictors of just-world motivated behavior such as immanent justice reasoning (IJR) in a replication of Callan, Ellard, and Nicol's (2006) study. Participants (N=109) were assigned to one of two narrative groups - either an adulterous scenario or a non-adulterous scenario. It was hypothesized that levels of IJR would be higher in the justice-threat than the non-threat condition, and that measures of physiological arousal would predict IJR. Results show that significantly higher responses of IJR were observed during the non-adulterous condition. Additionally, physiological indicators of emotional arousal correctly predicted IJR. These results indicate that physiological measures are useful in assessing justice-threat scenarios, and further research should use such indicators in addition to self-report affect measures.

Download

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS